Hosted Insurance Software – Support
Evaluating the people behind the cloud
As we said last week, Software as a Service, by definition, is a software distribution model where an application is hosted by a service provider (such as SIS) and made available to customers via the internet. An important thing to consider is that when you invest in SaaS you are buying more than just the hosted insurance software, you are buying access to the people behind that insurance software as well – a whole team of experts whose main priority is making sure that the system runs smoothly for you.
This is a far cry from buying a program which you then install yourself, teach yourself and maintain yourself.
Take SIS’ Partner XE Agency Management System which runs on a Software as a Service model for example. You not only get the system, you get the programmers who are constantly working to improve the software, the trainers who help you get up and running, a customer service team to answer your questions, and a tech department to facilitate the integrated/ automated maintenance & patch update schedule.
Because you are using a hosted insurance software model, you also have someone else maintaining and protecting the server (or servers) on which your data resides.
Essentially, the only “technical” thing you need to worry about is your internet connection and making sure your computers are up-to-date. The experts at your solutions provider do everything else. It is critical then, that you have a high level of trust with regards to your service provider.
Some questions to ask a provider to ensure they are worthy of your trust:
- How does your organization work with agencies of MY size? (To ensure they work well with YOUR agency)
- Where does your service team reside? How are they trained? (To ensure they are experts and can meet your needs)
- Tell me a bit about your business model. How do you plan to meet my needs now and in the future? (To ensure they can grow with you.)
- Tell me a bit about how you ensure my data is backed up, up to date, protected, and I can access it when I need to. (To ensure you can be comfortable with them handling your data).
At SIS we meet all of the above criteria. We know that you aren’t in the insurance software business. That is our job. It’s also our job to understand yours so that we can show you how to get the most out of your investment.
